Family Ties
by Porsche101
Summary: Someone from Skipper's past comes to visit... that's all I'm telling ya. Skilene in later chapters and maybe some Kowalski/OC. ON HOLD TEMPORARILY!
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note:_

_My first chapter of my new story. Let me know how I did because I know full and well it's been quite a while since I've updated anything. I get rusty, ya know? ;)_

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_"__Come on, say it with me and don't be afraid to admit it. Just say 'I'm an idiot'," _Dr Phil coaxed from the TV.

"You know, I don't think that guy's a real doctor," Kowalski muttered as he narrowed his eyes at the screen. He tapped his chin in thought.

_"I'm an idiot!" _Rico rasped out with a crazy grin on his face.

"No, no, Rico. You're not an idiot. You're just a world class psychopath," Private told him with a grin and a pat on the back. "And you should be proud of it."

Skipper rolled his eyes at the chessboard and looked up at the otter sitting across from him. He cocked his brow when he saw her looking at the other three across the room. Skipper sighed, "Private, you're watching way too much Dr. Phil these days. What happened with your soap operas?" He reached down and moved his piece across the board.

"Actually Skipper I watch those too, sometimes. It's just fun to watch something else for a change, ya know?"

"Okay, sure. Just don't say that to Manfreddie and Johnson. They hated change no matter how small it was. In fact, one day I bought a new coffee maker and they nearly butchered me for it. They said that the coffee maker 'held precious memories'."

Marlene looked over at Skipper and crossed her arms across her chest. Out of all the times that Skipper had mentioned Manfreddie and Johnson, he never told the story of who they were. "Say, Skippy, who _was_ Manfreddie and Johnson?"

Skipper was just about to answer but the metal door swinging open and violently slamming against the wall caught all of their attention. The team automatically jumped up in front of Marlene in their battle stance. Skipper peered intently into the depths of the hole and waited for whatever was about to come, completely forgetting about Marlene's question.

He barely had time to react as a black and white figure rocketed out of the doorway. He gasped as the figure slammed into them like a bowling ball and rocketed off the ceiling, spewing chess pieces in every direction. He eyed the mysterious penguin as he tried to identify it but the mask it was wearing was making it hard to see.

He took a protective stance in front of Marlene as Rico charged at the unexpected 'guest'. He whirled around to face her. "Marlene! Get out of here… it's too dangerous for you! Take the Private's First Prize exit." He flinched as he heard a battle cry behind him.

"No, Skipper! I'm not leaving you!" Marlene screamed in disgust at him. How could he even think that she was going to flee like a wimp at a time like this? Someone like Skipper should have seen that coming. After all, he's known her long enough, right?

Skipper clenched his jaws together. He did feel impressed by her bravery but was annoyed at her lacking to obey orders. He should have seen it coming. The Danes found him and now they were going to kill everyone off one by one… even the ones he loved most.

He stared into Marlene's hazel eyes with a hidden burning passion and was about to argue with her more but the sound of laughter behind him broke his thoughts. _Oh, no… one of the men has finally cracked! …It's probably Kowalski. _

He turned around unwillingly and expected to see the worst but was surprised to see the attacker kneeling over and roaring with laughter… with a female voice?

He grinned at Kowalski who was looking just as surprised a he was. "Aces, Kowalski for using the laughing gas!"

"Um… Skipper… I didn't deploy the laughing gas." Kowalski blinked as his leader and Marlene came up to them with their hands on their hips.

"Then what in the name of sardines-?" He let out a yelp as he was rocketed backward by the force of something warm but hard. "SWEET MOLASSES!"

The penguin on top of him chuckled a silky laugh. "Come on, Skipper. Don't tell me after all these years you don't recognize me?" He glared up into the electric blue eyes that stood out brilliantly against her black mask. He struggled against her but soon found out that she was stronger than he had anticipated.

He immediately stopped trying to break free. His eyes widened as a memory occurred to him, which had to be the one that he had desperately tried to erase the most out of all of them.

"Heather…?"

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_Author's Note:_

_Once again, don't forget to review! I'm gonna need some encouragement with this bound-to-be-crazy story. _


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: _

_Hallelujah! An update! Sorry I've been so slow lately… I get lazy, ya know? Don't forget to review, puh-leeze! _

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Skipper flinched as Heather laughed on top of him. He attempted to scoot out from underneath her but she was proving that she was stronger than he thought she was. He glanced over at the team and Marlene to see their dumbstruck expressions, all screaming at him: "Who in the world is Heather?!"

He especially kept his eye on Marlene, feeling guilt burning inside of him… Heather was in fact his ex, and now that she actually showed up at the zoo… his feelings for Marlene will become even harder and harder on him. Not to mention, Heather and Marlene might end up in a catfight sooner or later.

The boys looked shocked that their beloved leader had been taken down by a girl. But Skipper couldn't blame them. He was positive that the position he was in looked absolutely ridiculous and hard to believe. If there was a mirror across from himself and the penguin on top of him, he would refuse to even consider that being himself.

"Oh, Skipper. You are too funny sometimes!" He glanced up into the pupils of his attacker and noticed the emotions of humor and glee intertwined in the blue and purple eye color. He scowled at her as her grip released as she made to stand up over him.

He was shocked into stone as he watched her reach up gracefully to remove her mask. He nearly gasped at what he saw when the ski-mask was removed from her head.

At first he thought that the intruder was Heather, his murderous ex-girlfriend, but she was far from that. She had beautiful shiny black feathers, an outstanding female figure for a penguin and muscles to show she had a passion for the same thing Skipper had: military training. But Skipper had no attraction to her because of one simple reason. She was his sister.

She let out another laugh. "Heather? Heather?! Skippy, that is an absolute insult in my case." She watched with an amused expression as her brother stood up and faced her directly, finally revealing how alike their profiles looked, except with his sister looking much more feminine.

"Scarlet! What on Earth are you doing here?!" Skipper didn't know if he was thrilled to see her, or annoyed how she presented herself. His beak twitched into a smile as she lunged forward and hugged him tightly. He returned the gesture with the feeling of staring eyes piercing through him.

"Oh! I haven't seen you in years! How have you been? What on Earth happened to you?! Where are Manfreddie and Johnson?" She walked away from him and continued to stare about the HQ, ignoring the astonished and confused group in the corner.

"Um, Scarlet, about that…" Skipper tapped the tips of his flippers together nervously. "I have a new team…" He glanced over at the four standing in the corner.

For the first time, Scarlet turned to the three penguins and the one otter with her eyes blazing with excitement and ADHD. "Oh! I didn't even notice you four standing all by your lonesome!" She smiled and shook each of their hands in enthusiasm. "My name is Scarlet and I'm Skipper's sister all the way from Antarctica! We haven't seen each other in years…"

"Wait, did you say… Antarctica? You mean… the wild?" Kowalski asked with an arched brow. He stepped forward slightly with curiosity of the new penguin in town.

"Why yes, Skipper and I are from-"

"Uh, Scarlet! Why don't I let Marlene give you a little tour of the zoo? You know… so you can learn the perimeter?" Skipper placed his flippers behind his back and wrung them nervously in secret.

"Oh, I already took care of all that, Skipper. I learned the perimeter before I came in here. A soldier must always be prepared." She stood at attention and gave him a salute. "Just like Captain taught us!"

Skipper flinched slightly. "Yeah… just like Captain taught us…" He straightened immediately to cover up his few seconds of vulnerability. "Rico, I want you to make a bed for Scarlet in the wall, and don't obliterate the wall, please! We just need a simple extra bunk."

Rico groaned slightly at his orders to not let himself get carried away. Of course, the last time he was told to make changes to the wall, they sprung a huge leak from the pool of water surrounding the HQ. He knew that Skipper definitely did not want to go through that mess again.

Skipper stared as Scarlet and Marlene talked in the corner of the room, obviously discussing about him. But then his infamous paranoia was starting to kick in.

_What if that's not really Scarlet and Marlene was a spy from the beginning like I suspected? They could both be working for Dr. Blowhole and are planning to take me down right now! Marlene could have simply called her in and… _

Skipper mentally slapped himself. What was he thinking? If Marlene was a spy she would have taken him down months ago. She had plenty of opportunities when they were alone without the others. She had gained his trust and his admiration, which is a combination that is extremely hard to get from him.

_Not to mention no one can get Scarlet's eye color right… blue and purple? How abnormal… _

He folded his flippers and leaned against the wall to eye Rico's progress. Just when Skipper saw him look suspicious and out-of-control, Rico leaned down to pick up the jackhammer.

"Rico!" Skipper barked, making the crazed penguin stiffen. He glared at Rico as his back went as straight as a board. _"No _extreme demolition!"

Skipper sighed as Rico nodded vigorously, his tongue flapping every where.

"Hey, Skipper?" He jumped as a voice quietly made itself known beside him. He went into an attack position but relaxed when he saw it was Marlene. He couldn't help but grin when she jumped at his sudden reaction. "You would think I would be used to that by now…"

"Hey, Marlene," Skipper chuckled, "what can I do for you?"

Scarlet eyed her brother and Marlene from across the room. Her eyes raked down Skipper's body and back up to rest on his smile. _Since when does Skipper smile like that? I guess it __**has**__ been a while since we've seen each other…_

She blinked as the two made their way toward the exit, but not the fishbowl exit, the big metal door that she had entered in a while ago. _How odd…_

"Kowalski!" She rolled her eyes as he jumped at the calling of name. "Did you see that?"

"See what, exactly?" He asked as he turned his full attention on her. It was kind of hard not to when she had eyes like that…

"Marlene and Skipper! They're a couple aren't they?" she couldn't help but grin when she said that.

"Who? Those two? Oh, no. They most certainly are not a couple. They're good friends but not a couple… even though they do act like it sometimes." He stared at the way the pair had gone. "Quite frankly, I don't know where they go off to. I suppose it's just so that they can…" he trailed off as he realized that Scarlet was no long listening. "Scarlet? Scarlet…?"

"Oh, sorry, Kowalski. I was just thinking…" She said through a grin.

"Thinking about what?" He eyed her cautiously when she whirled around with her brilliant eyes beaming with excitement.

"What do you think about getting those two together? Am I crazy for suggesting that?" She cocked her head and blinked innocently, begging for his opinion and possibly his help.

Kowalski was rather taken aback at her crazy suggestion about Skipper and Marlene being a couple… but actually getting them _together? _"I really don't know about that, Scarlet. Skipper says he doesn't have time for love and my prediction is that this will end rather badly if you go through with this…"

"Oh, please! This is my own flesh and blood, here. If there's anyone I can work around, it's Skipper." She folded her flippers over her chest.

"Scarlet, Skipper is very complicated. You haven't even seen him for how many years? Who knows how he could have changed since then!"

"Oh, Kowalski… you silly little goose, you." She reached up and patted him on the cheek.

Kowalski remained frozen in place, still reminiscing in her warm touch. He reached up and felt his cheek as she gracefully walked away from their conversation. _I guess the only thing we can do is to see how this plays out. _


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note:_

_Okay, I know what you're thinking... 'where have you been?!' 'Why did it take so long to get this chapter out?!' Okay, to answer your questions, I've been busy with school. I still have a **mountain **(not exaggerating) of homework sitting in my room burning a hole in the back of my mind. I'm using my Grandma's laptop at a baby shower so I have a few more hours at the most... maybe I'll start on the fourth chapter as soon as I post this one ;) I sure hope I haven't lost any one on this story since I've taken so long to post this... I'm nervous. Anyhoo, enough of my blabbing... enjoy this chapter, everyone!_

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Skipper let out a cry of either pain or frustration, the four penguins couldn't tell. "Okay, okay! Get off of me!"

Rico, Kowalski and Private stared in shock as Scarlet was close to making Skipper cry 'Uncle'. They've never seen their leader in such a condition, especially when a girl was the cause of it.

Scarlet smirked with triumph. "I will when you say it. C'mon! Say it!" She jerked his flippers in persuasion.

Skipper sighed and rolled his eyes. "…Uncle." He flipped forward as soon as he was relieved of her weight on his back. He glared at his sister, but it didn't contain hatred… more of a playful glare. He crossed his flippers as his beak twitched at the corners. He was fighting back a smile.

Scarlet mimicked his pose perfectly and walked a few steps to the left. Her confidence was boiling over. "You taught me well, Skipper," she winked, "rematch?"

"You have to admit, Skipper. It was really entertaining to see you get whipped by a girl! I've never seen that…" Private trailed off as Rico and Kowalski gave him warning stares against Skipper's piercing death glare.

Skipper turned his attention back to his sister as she let out a howl of laughter. "I love this kid!"

He sighed through a smirk. "Maybe later, Scarlet. I've got a few moves I want to teach you. And I'm sure you can show me a few of your own."

Kowalski scoffed silently at his leader's new ability to keep his temper under control. He knew Skipper didn't exactly favor being beaten in a fight, whether it was real or not. Maybe it had something to do with his challenger being his sister. Either that or he knew that if he lunged at her, he would just end up with a face-full of concrete… again.

He had to admit, Scarlet's ability was rather impressive. Scarlet did say that Skipper taught her well. It's pretty obvious that while the two siblings were in Antarctica, Skipper taught her quite a bit about fighting. He thought he knew quite a bit about Skipper… but he hardly even knows half of his leader and friend's life. And it makes him feel… very disappointed and out-of-the-loop knowing that Skipper was still a mystery to all of them.

Skipper was the one that would always say that a team never kept secrets from each other. Then why is Skipper keeping his whole life from them?

"Skipper?" a voice broke Kowalski's reverie. He looked up to see Marlene peeking up over the edge of the habitat, looking very distraught and troubled. Kowalski had a very good reason for her mood.

"Marlene. Can it wait? We're in the middle of training," Skipper complained. Of course, he failed to notice the anger and disappointment in her eyes.

"No. I want to talk to you now." She glanced over at Scarlet and blinked at her odd expression.

Skipper glanced around the rest of the team, getting a nod of encouragement from Kowalski and Scarlet. He sighed and jumped over the edge to join Marlene.

After a while of walking around the zoo in an awkward silence, Skipper finally managed to say something to her. "What is it you need to talk about Marlene? You're wasting my time."

Skipper immediately wished he hadn't added the last part as Marlene's glare burned into his sapphire blue eyes.

"How could you?" Marlene hissed.

"How could I what, exactly?" Skipper placed his flippers on his hips and returned Marlene's glare.

"Why didn't you tell me you were from the wild? How could you keep that from your team?! You knew how much that would have meant to them… and to me." Marlene's eyes started to tear up, but she refused to let them spill over onto her white fur.

"Marlene… there are some things that aren't mean to be said out loud. My life isn't meant to be an autobiography!" Skipper felt his face fall into an exasperated expression.

"You've known me for almost a year now. I thought we were friends… maybe even _best _friends… but I guess I was wrong. I don't like secrets, Skipper. Friends don't hide things from each other. And what about your team? You've known them for years, and they didn't even know where you were from."

Skipper had opened his mouth several times to interject, but words and sentences just kept pouring from Marlene's mouth.

"What else doesn't your team know about you? Are you really a penguin or are you just wearing a suit?" Marlene poked his chest. "Is your real name Skipper, or is that just your nickname for the military gig? Did you make up your whole life, or have you really done all the things you said you've done? I don't even know any more."

Skipper stared at her in shock. "Well, I'm absolutely positive that I don't know everything about you! I don't know what happened in California or before we got back to the zoo from Africa. All I know is that you're a transfer from Northern California, that you're an otter and that you're name is Marlene."

Marlene felt a brilliant blush under her fur. _Touché, Skipper. _"By the way, who is Heather?" She watched him as he opened his mouth, but she already knew the answer. "No! Don't tell me! You're going to say _'It's classified' _just like you always do. What's the point of asking you questions when you never tell anyone the answers?"

Skipper sighed as he realized that was exactly what he was going to say. _She just doesn't seem to understand that there are things that aren't meant to be addressed out loud… _

"Okay… tell you what… I'm going to go home and just forget this ever happened. I'm going to make this conversation 'classified' so that it'll never come to mind again. Goodbye, Skipper." She pushed her way past him with a hole in her chest, feeling betrayed and hurt.

Skipper was right when he said that he didn't know everything about her… because he'd never even asked her. She asked him multiple times about his past, but as far as she knew, Skipper didn't have a past.


	4. Chapter 4

A few days had past since Skipper and Marlene's fight, and the five penguins had seen neither hide nor tail of the usually cheerful otter.

Everyone, even the young innocent Private, could feel the tension between the couple. Kowalski and Scarlet had attempted to get to Skipper to try and see what had happened when they took that seemingly harmless walk, but he refused to breathe a word about it. He would just say that it was nothing and that they were wasting their time trying to figure it out what it was.

And Scarlet was getting fed up with it.

_Skipper… you are such an aggravating mystery... _Scarlet stared at him intently as he and Rico performed their regular weapons check. Her eyes raked up and down his body. Apparently he was just as capable as her when it came to hiding emotions.

She growled angrily as she thought of Marlene across the zoo. What was she thinking? And what happened between her and Skipper that one day? Why was Skipper keeping everything a secret?

She thought for sure the team would know about her. What really took her by surprise was that they didn't even know that she and Skipper were from Antarctica all along! What could he be hiding from _her_…?

She sucked in a lungful of air, and made her way over to confront him. She kept her stature firm and her back straight. She clenched her flippers together. When you confront Skipper, you have to look like you mean business.

"Okay Rico, where's that chainsaw of yours? We might need that for King Julien if he tries any more of his shenanigans." Skipper placed his flippers on his hips and glared at Rico, obviously waiting for the chainsaw to come up through Rico's gullet.

Rico hacked and coughed a few times before finally managing to regurgitate the 'weapon'. Skipper smirked with pride and confidence as Rico leapt across the room, and demolished a King Julien dummy with a loud roar.

Kowalski and Private watched Rico in terror as stuffing and Julien's grey limbs flew all over the HQ, bombarding them in the process.

Rico laughed manically before starting toward the ninja bowling pins.

"No, Rico! We need those for practice! You can destroy something later on… with my permission, of course." Skipper scolded him slightly by ordering him to put the chainsaw away. He rolled his eyes as Rico sadly swallowed the rest of the gear.

"Is he always like that?"

Skipper looked over to see Scarlet picking stuffing from her feathers. He chuckled lightly. "Yes, and he does the team good. You never know when we'll need an attack like that."

"I sure hope King Julien can run fast…" Scarlet began, but caught herself as she realized the real reason she went over to her brother. She shook her head as she cleared away Rico's distraction.

"That Ringtail won't have time to _blink!" _He laughed and walked away from his sister casually.

Scarlet rushed after him and planted her flippers on his shoulders. "Skipper, do you mind if we step out for a few? I want to talk to you about something."

Skipper glared at her, already knowing what her little 'talk' was going to be about. "Sure… that's fine, Scarlet," he replied coldly, "Kowalski! We're going to be out for a few. You're in charge!"

Kowalski waved at them absentmindedly, trying to work on his latest invention.

Skipper could feel Private and Rico's eyes on their backs as they climbed the ladder out into the twilight. As soon as he was sure the fishbowl was closed, he whirled around on Scarlet.

"Scarlet, why are you so… stubborn?!" he shouted, referring to the twenty times she had bothered him about Marlene.

"It doesn't feel good to get a taste of your own medicine, does it Skipper?!" she hissed back.

_"What are you talking about?" _Skipper growled.

"I'm talking about Marlene. What ever you did…" she breathed in deeply, "Skipper… I just want to know what happened. Are you guys… having relationship problems…?"

A brilliant blush flooded Skipper's face. How could she think that they were…? Sure Skipper had little dreams and daydreams about her but… why would she think they were going out?

"Scarlet…" Skipper plastered a frown on his face to hide his real emotion, "you're _way_ over your head."

She furrowed her brow and mirrored Skipper's frown. Her eyes darkened as a shadow crossed over her face. "What do you mean?"

Skipper took in a deep breath and prepared himself. "I _mean _that how could you think that Marlene and I are going out? She's not mad at me because of that! She's just… ticked because I was… keeping all those secrets from her and the team…"

Skipper turned to the side so that Scarlet could only see his profile, his outline silver from the moonlight. "You must understand some of my past… that I just couldn't tell," he looked down at the water surrounding them, "it's my business… that isn't meant to be known by others." He frowned at the tiny waves on the water's surface; the moon and the light from the surrounding lamps making the water look black and white.

Scarlet stared at Skipper until she started to see spots lay out in her vision. She blinked only twice the whole time she never took her eyes off of him.

They both jumped and twirled around to see the Private climbing out of the fishbowl. "Oh… I'm sorry… we were just wondering when you two were coming to bed…"

"We're coming now," Scarlet said quickly.

Skipper watched through his peripheral vision as Scarlet went with Private into the HQ. He stared at Marlene's home across the zoo. He narrowed his eyes to attempt to pierce through the darkness with his sight. He blinked as he saw a dark figure standing in Marlene's habitat.

He stepped forward, wondering if it was her. He glanced back at the fishbowl to check if were alone. He was.

He whirled back around to examine the figure some more, but by the time his eyes found the spot the shadow was in, it was gone.


End file.
